Hawaii is the number 1 consumer of SPAM in the United States… Apparently, Hawaiians love their potted meat. I have to admit, back in the days when I was growing up I looooved when my grandma made for us Spam sandwiches with mayo on criollo bread. That was a treat we only ate while on vacations.

Now… my tastes have changed. And while I wanted to bring a traditional and authentic take of a Hawaiian Luau to my Yogi friends, I also wanted to make it accessible to everyone. Some of us have access to good vegetarian “hams”, but I figured that eggplant is something most of you will be able to get and will not cringe when you read it on a recipe. The teriyaki marinade is what will bring it all together in true Hawaiian musubi fashion.

This recipe is a tad long… but there are just 3 main steps – 1. cook the rice, 2. cook the eggplant, 3. assemble the musubi. So don’t be overwhelmed by it all. I used two small plastic containers of the same size that can fit one inside the other to form my musubi. There are musubi contraptions, but I could not find one for the life of me in Puerto Rico. Once you get the hang of it… it will be a breeze.

First, cook the rice… I use a rice cooker, but you can do it on the stove top if you prefer. The idea is to cook the rice thoroughly but that it’s a tad sticky. Not fluffy for sure. Although by using short grain rice you get that consistency inherently.

Cook the rice without oil, just a light sprinkling of salt. In a measuring cup mix together the rice vinegar, the 3 tbs of brown sugar and salt. Set aside. After the rice is cooked, transfer to a plastic or wooden bowl to cool completely. While rice is still hot, drizzle the vinegar/brown sugar mixture over the rice to season. Set aside for the rice to cool completely.

Secondly, we season the eggplant… Using a mandolin or a very sharp knife, slice eggplant in thin, ¼ inch slices. In a large flat container mix together the marinade for the eggplant – soy sauce, brown sugar, grated garlic and ginger. Mix together well to make sure the sugar dissolves well in the soy sauce. Add the eggplant slices to the marinade, making sure all sides of eggplant are coated with the marinade. Marinate for 30 minutes to 1 hour.

Heat olive oil in a non-stick skillet or griddle and pan-fry the marinated eggplant slices until caramelized, about 2 minutes on each side. As you cook the eggplant slices, set aside on a baking sheet.

So now… we assemble the musubi. Moisten your hands with water. It will help with the rice not sticking as much to your fingers while you’re assembling. Take about 2 tbs or rice into the bottom of the plastic container. Sprinkle lightly some black sesame gomasio as seasoning over the rice. Place a piece of eggplant over the rice. Fold the eggplant slice if it’s necessary to fit into the small plastic container. With the secong plastic container press the eggplant/rice tower to form a compact package. Using a sharp knife separate the rice/eggplant for the edges and flip over and tap on a cutting board for the rice/eggplant to release from the container.

Wrap with a thin strip of nori. The nori sheets come scored in strips, we cut each of those strips in half, to make them yiled more strips for sheet.

Musubi tastes best the same day it is made. Never refrigerate because the cold makes the rice hardens and it’s not very nice to eat.

As you can see, the recipe has a few steps, but it’s not very difficult to make. And when you get the hang of making the musubi, it becomes kinda like an assembly line. I want to thank Jesús Omar for being my musubi assistant the day we had to make 50+ musubis for the Hawaiian Vegetarian Festival. The crowd was surprised they were eating “vegetarian sushi” for the first time.

Next time, I will definitely try to make this with what they call “sham spam”… my version, of course. Stay tuned.

I’ve never had the opportunity to travel to Costa Rica before … and so far this year, I’ve traveled there TWICE!!! Yep… Twice. I remember when I was about to celebrate one of those milestone birthdays and I wanted to travel somewhere I had never ever gone before. My mind immediately went to Greece, Turkey or even go back to Italy. And when I consulted with my guru, he quietly said: “Why don’t you go to Costa Rica?”

What kind of enchantment did Costa Rica have? I would not learn that until 3 years later in which, as a yoga group, we decided to take a short trip to San José and its surroundings. It was a short trip indeed, but extremely intense. We had the chance to visit San José and see once again my friend Flori, who also practices yoga, but now lives in her native land. We also got to visit some of the volcanoes, go ziplining amongst the greeneries in Guanacaste and go down some cool rapids on the Balsa River.

It also gave us the chance to taste the local cuisine… particularly something Costa Ricans call Casados, or as translated in English, “Married”. It’s a kinda weird name in both English and Spanish… don’t think it’s just weird to read it in English. Casados??, I asked when I read a sign in a street-side eatery. It’s one of the most typical Costa Rican dishes around – it’s a combination of rice, beans, sweet fried plantain, salad, cooked vegetables, potatoes and some sort of meat. And I said to myself… Ahhhh, now I know what I want to order for lunch today.

The name “casado” was given to this combo dish because apparently when you get married is when you get to eat well and varied. The thing is… if my “casado” is meat-less, how should we call them then?? So I came up with my own little nickname – the “Soltero” or The Single, a “casado” without the meat. And we got to eat Solteros all over the place.

One of the advantages to us of Costa Rica receiving such an influx of US-based tourists is they have a sensibility for vegetarian tourists. Everywhere we went, there were vegetarian options and even pure vegetarian restaurants. One example is Vishnu Restaurant, a vegetarian fast food joint with several locations in San José. Ever since we stepped foot in San José we had delicious options to eat. And even me, the non-bean lover, was asking for more of their refried black beans. They were delish…

After having such a great time on my first trip… I accepted the invitation of my friend Carlos to return to Costa Rica a few weekends ago. This time, Carlos and I got to visit the beaches on the Pacific side of Costa Rica, something we didn’t get a chance to experience on my first trip in March. The nice thing… he got to introduce me to some fancy restaurants in San José and I got to show him what a traditional typical Costa Rican dish is – SOLTEROS!!! And Carlos was veeeeeeeery happy about that, if you get my drift. 😉

Costa Rica is truly and amazing country, gorgeous landscapes and the food is delicious. It’s a country who has taken advantage of their natural resources and made the best of it. God only knows how many more times I’ll return to Costa Rica to fully understand why Guruji recommended me to travel here a few years ago. Who knows if there is a real life “soltero” waiting for me, right?

Have you ever visited Costa Rica? What are your favorite dishes? Please share your experiences with all of us below…

Lentils are one of the staples in Indian cooking. Dal, as it is known in India, is the definitely the pulse of choice.

The most traditional way of eating lentils are in a stew format to eat over rice, very much like we eat rice and beans in Latin countries. The difference when we cook lentils, is that you can still see the lentils in the dish.

Indians tend to cook their lentils until they become mush, where the lentils just disappear and just look like a very soft puree. I will share with you a recipe given to me by a friend in which you cook yellow/orange lentils until they become this creamy consistency. They’re delicious…

A new way I discovered having lentils is in Moong Dal. The best way I can describe this is a lentil krispy… imagine a rice krispy, but with lentils. Get it now??

Moong Dal is crispy and salty… they pop in your mouth and they’re a real treat to eat. We discovered them in a store at an airport and enjoyed them on the road as a snack often. We even got to bring some home to enjoy. But remember they’re still lentils, filled with protein, so they can be heavy on your stomach if you eat too much at a time. So be careful not to overdo them… ok??

And my favorite way to eat lentils… papadams!!!! These are crispy wafers, like a tortilla meets a chip, made usually from lentils or chickpea flour. They’re served as a snack or as an accompaniment to some main dish. I got them served to complement Yogurt Rice, a favorite in South India. More about the Yogurt Rice in an upcoming post…

These papadams are addictive… I would eat mine, my mom’s and my friend’s papadams, if they were not interested in them. They are like the best Indian chip you will ever find. This is a very delicious way to get your protein on.

Like this:

Once in a while I come up with these clean-your –fridge recipes, especially when I am about to go on a trip. I have an obsession to leave the fridge as clean as possible from all the fresh ingredients that most likely will spoil by the time I return. This is how most of my stuffed peppers and stuffed mushrooms recipes come about…

So lately, I’ve been trying to eat less cheese… I go in phases trying to do this because I know that I can abuse cheese if I am not careful. And cooking rice for me is a way to come up with dishes that do not rely on cheese as a garnish or flavoring agent. Although this dish can very well be enhanced by some cheese too… 😉

The “millionaire” term was coined by Carmen at the Yoga Center because in her version, she needs to buy lots of ingredients to make a very luscious rice. But in my case, I work with what I have in my fridge and/or pantry of what’s left-over from other recipes.

This is more a method than a recipe per sé… I will show you what I have added to my most recent version of “millionaire rice” but feel free to create your very own combination the next time you feel the need to clean-out-your-fridge, for a trip or just before a big trip to the market…

I do not include amounts of ingredients, because this is about what you have available in your fridge…

In a large skillet over medium heat, drizzle a small amount of olive oil and the diced onions, peppers and carrots. Cook them for a few minutes until they begin to soften.

Add the mushrooms and broccoli pieces … Mix well so the flavors mix. Season with salt and pepper, or the garlic salt if you prefer. If you have a lid, cover the skillet and let the mushrooms and broccoli cook for a few minutes.

Add the cooked rice to the skillet. Mix well and cover again. The steam in the skillet will soften the rice again if it’s hardened from being in the fridge. Allow cooking for a couple of minutes and add the almonds last. Tturn the stove off and leave it there for the residual heat to finish heating the rice, making it fluffy again.

Like this:

My friends, Ana Yolanda and Angie, have a new found appreciation for cooking. Maybe a little bit inspired by me, who knows.

Lately they’ve invited me a few times to taste a few of the new learnings they’ve had in their weekly cooking class. However, something I have noticed every time they invite me over to taste these recipes is the amounts of butter and calories these recipes have.

This Leek Rice was something they created for me one night… it was the ONLY THING I could eat that night, but I get it. They’re not vegetarians and the menus they learn aren’t either. When I asked how the rice was made, I’ll be honest I can’t fully remember the amount of rice in the recipe, but I do remember that they “needed” to cook the leeks in 2 sticks of butter. WHAT???? 2 sticks of butter!!!!!!

I told them I could certainly be able to replicate this recipe and make it in a much healthier manner – without sacrificing flavor or texture in any way.

I cooked the rice in a rice cooker… I only seasoned lightly with a little bit of olive oil and salt. When the rice finished, I started on the rest of the dish.

In a large skillet with high sides over medium heat, add the oil and butter. When the butter is melted, add the leeks and season with salt and pepper to taste. Cook, moving them occasionally, until they’re soft. .

Add the rice to the pot where you’re cooking the leeks. Toss well for the rice to be well coated with the leeks and butter. Add the walnuts and mix one more time really well.

That’s it… In my opinion, the rice still has that silky unctuous sensation in the mouth without having to melt 2 full sticks of butter. About ¼ of a stick will do, IMHO.

My mom never had the original version and she loved this one. What’s your verdict???